Anok-su-namon's Beginning
by Aurontalia
Summary: A random story, I had to write it. This should end up a chaptered work, but no promises! This is how Anok-su-namon's life started, and is mostly about her past. rated T for possible later content.Please, r/r.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

Disclaimer: I am writing this with minimal research, and I own none of it, nor do I make any money from it. Opinions STRONGLY encouraged, I'd LOVE to get some feedback!

Anok-su-namon, or Anoe as her parents had called her, lived in the house of the great Pharaoh Seti the first, pharaoh of the greatest land in the world, Egypt. He had become king after marrying the daughter of the previous pharaoh, as was the tradition, and she was kept as his Great Wife. The other wives Seti kept (as well as concubines) were lesser daughters, of previous wives, the daughters of nobles, or the daughters of kings from other lands.

Her mother had been a merchant's daughter, marrying the youngest son of one of the lesser noble's families. Her father had taken over much of the scribe-work for the merchant family, and they had lived a simple life in Thebes. She had three siblings, a younger sister and two little twin brothers. Her sister was a bright little imp, dark skinned from running around playing with the boys, though sharp as a whip. Her parents planned to put her into scribe school when she was old enough. The twins, the boys, were too young for anyone to make predictions.

Anoe was the oldest, and like many middle and upper class Egyptian girls had learned the basics of hieroglyphics, as well as the traditional dances at the festivals. Anoe wanted to go into the medicinal side of things, and work on the poisons, the embalming, the magic that the priests did to preserve the bodies of the dead and send them on to the afterlife, but such things were usually reserved for those with enough money to buy their way in. Those who could not pay the fee often ended up dancing in the festivals. While she was skilled at dancing (the dances of Sehkmet were her favourite; fighting with the si's, or a spear in her hand made her feel so much more alive than the dances with ribbons), it was not her preferred activity.

Unfortunately, her life was set to chance one day, on the festival of Ra.

Anoe stood in line with the other girls then, ready for the musicians to signal their arrival. They were to burst forth, some starting the dance right away, stamping their feet in time to the music, while the others were to begin a slower dance, and then speed up towards the end while the others slowed. It was her teacher's experiment, a gift to please the pharaoh Seti I, home from his conquering of the nearby barbarians.

Both he and the Great Wife, Tuya would come and be a part of the procession, and then the party that would last for days over the city, celebrating the triumphant return of the pharaoh.

Once the dance was over, her mother wore a worried face, her father a jubilant one. It turned out that the pharaoh had seen her dancing, and was so overcome with love (her mother snorted at the word when the messenger said it), that he simply had to have her as his concubine.

One of the reasons why Egypt was the greatest country to ever exist was because of the absolute rule the Pharaoh had over his people. He was the morning star and the evening; he was a god to be worshipped on Earth, as well as a voice for the goddesses and gods that lived in the heavens and the earth. As such, all the people of Egypt, whether high or low, were his property, in the same was that all the cows in a farmer's field were his property. As such, she hadn't had any choice on whether to say no or not. The penalties for trying would have been swift, and if she didn't end up dead herself, she would end up exactly where she didn't want to be.

Not that Anoe had any such opinions either way at the time. Her mother had given her a very long talk about men, and what happened in the bedchambers, while her father had grinned, as though he had made an excellent trade. No doubt the family would benefit from the trade, although her father was thinking more of the honour to the family at the time.

Once Anoe was away from her mother, she became caught up in the idea of being the pharaoh's concubine. Maybe he would like her so much, he'd let her study anything she liked! Maybe he'd give her jewels and riches, and a tame crocodile (like the one that Queen Semekhare had ridden into battle against the Hittites)!

Unfortunately, when she arrived it was none of those things.

"Come this way, " a slave woman said to her, grasping Anoe's arm and pulling her into the palace. A group of guards surrounded them (eunuch's she later learned), and Anoe saw nothing until she was led to a rather drab little open courtyard in the palace. They were far away from the ocean, and so the stench of the city rose up and sat over the area like an ill humour. She could see at least ten or twelve other women in the courtyard with her, as well as slaves and servants. The women were gossiping and playing with make-up or dice; one had a monkey and was feeding it grapes. There were only one of two cats around, which was very improper; a house without cats was sure to have diseases and rats flourish. All in all, it looked more like the brothels she had seen in a very naughty part of town than the palace of the pharaoh.

"Surely, there must be some mistake?" She asked the slave.

"Hardly," the slave said, looking down her nose at Anoe. Anoe glared back. She was not highly born, but she was better than a slave, and she would NOT be treated like that! "This is where the concubines go."

Anoe lifted her nose into the air and stared down its straight line at the older (and taller) woman. "And I am the newest concubine of pharaoh Seti I, the beloved of Ptah and-" she began, meaning to chastise the woman.

The woman slapped her across the face. Anoe's eyes stung with tears and quickly bit her lip to keep them from falling. "And I am the third wife of the pharaoh, and will not be dealing with an uppity little merchant girl. You're here to serve the pharaoh, not be a pampered princess."

"Your room will be in one of the ones on the left; Nefer-Ptah died from her boy's birth a few days ago, so her room should be empty." she said, giving Anok a push in that direction.

Anoe wandered vaguely in the direction indicated. There were several doors, or opening with cloth rather, not proper doors at all, which lead to small, cubby-hole like rooms for the women to live in. She found the empty room at one end, a woman with a crying baby in the next. There was already a slave girl in the room, laying out a pallet below the shelf in the room. The room was small and dank, without a window or a piece of cloth to cover the door. Her bundle of jewellery that she had brought from home and her spare clothes lay in a wrinkled bundle on the shelf. The tortoise shell comb from her mother was gone, along with the pair of earrings made of gold with little eyes-of-Horus carved into them for protection. The scroll she had bundled up so carefully, the words of a favourite philosopher on them, was missing as well. Of all the things, that hurt the most.

"Where are my things?" Anoe demanded of the slave. The woman gave her a vague look.

"All things are searched before they are allowed into the palace of the lotus, mistress" she replied. "Any that are deemed unnecessary or dangerous are removed."

"A scroll? A few pieces of jewellery? Those are dangerous?" she asked angrily, tears in her eyes.

The woman shrugged and finished making up the pallet. She left the room with hardly a glance at Anok, as though she were a piece of furniture, nothing worth noticing or paying any attention to.

"Get back here!" Anoe yelled, running after the woman. 'I want to know where my things are! I want to-"

Suddenly a hand reached out of the shadows and grabbed her. It was one of the fat eunuchs. He smelled of unwashed pig, and she struggled as he pulled her back into the shadows.

Anoe kicked fiercely and bit his hand, drawing blood. He let go, and she stood to yell at him for his impertinence, when a great gong sounded. Quickly, she turned around to see the pharaoh entering the courtyard!

She hadn't had time to do her morning exercises or wash after her trip, so her clothes were soiled from her journey, and she looked more like a dirty urchin than a concubine. The pharaoh didn't see her though, and was instead going around the courtyard, tapping the women on the shoulder. The women all had looks of extreme, idiocy on their faces, as though they were sheep, madly in love with their shepherd.

Those who he had tapped on the shoulder followed him and his guards out while those who were left sat, dejected, or stormed off to their rooms.

Clearly something important had happened, though Anoe had no idea what.

The next morning, Anoe woke late, and left her room. She had suffered a horrible night, unable to sleep on the uncomfortable, unfamiliar pallet, and had been disturbed by the squalling of the infant next door. Then, when she had finally dropped off to sleep, she was awoken yet again by the return of the women from Seti's bedchambers.

That was when she gave up on sleep, and began her plan.

As with all-important plans, they began with a polite prayer. Her room had no window, but she could see the moon from the doorway (which still stood empty, even of a simple piece of cloth).

"Oh Isis," she whispered, the words falling from her lips "Let me go home."

Then she began her planning. It was very simple. Since she was not married to the pharaoh, nor had they consummated their so-called bond (she certainly hadn't felt anything, even if he had), she would simply march straight out of the palace and go home. He'd probably forgotten about her already, since he hadn't wanted her last night.

She had been horribly surprised when he had ignored her. And insulted too. Before that day, she hadn't thought herself vain, but it had hurt that he chose other women, non-Egyptian women even, instead of her.

The next morning, she packed her few belongings and set out, walking alongside the other women of the harem to go to the temple. They were worshipping at the Great Temple of Ra, built by the father of the current Pharaoh, and a very popular place. Anoe planned to sneak away to the city. If anyone caught her, she would simply say she was going to visit her family, not escape.

She followed the women, her small broach held in hand as though she planned to leave it as an offering. It took quite a while, as many of the women walked slowly, and others dawdled along with babies in arms, or gossiping for fun. Anoe hadn't seen many harems before; her father was a poor man after all, but she had expected that the women of the Pharaoh's harem would be better than this. Apart from the fine paints adorning their faces and the bangles on their arms, they could be ordinary women, fishwives or merchants or slaves, going about their morning prayers.

It was all very boring, and as they neared the temple, Anoe started to pick her feet up in preparation to run. However, instead of leading them to the normal entrances, the wives and concubines were lead down to a darker, less public area, hidden by veils, close to the temple, and with a proper statue of Ra, but not anywhere that she could escape from.

She looked around horrified, as the ranks of the women closed in around her, and they each began their morning prayers or began gossiping. The guards looked very bored.

A foreign girl, one with paler skin than a proper Egyptian and odd clothing, laughed at Anoe and said something behind her hand to a slave.

Anoe marched furiously over to the woman.

"What did she say?" she demanded of the slave. "If you're going to insult me, you may as well do it to my face!"

"She merely remarked on your odd, offerings," another woman said. This one was tall and imperious, with dark skin and hair that was a mere puffball. She smiled a dark crocodile smile at Anoe. "It seems odd that you find it proper to sacrifice your, second tunic and a broach to the Great Ra instead of incense."

Anoe was not stupid. She knew that the woman knew she was planning to run away.

"The great pharaoh would be dismayed to hear of his latest concubine's unhappiness, especially after such, devotion as he has shown you." she continued.

Anoe knew the woman was both threatening and mocking her. First, the threat to tell the pharaoh, and then the insult, considering how quickly he had forgotten her.

"Of course, you'd know best how he'd respond, since he so often calls for you," Another woman replied, a proper Egyptian this time, but older.

The woman scowled at her, her eyes dark and flinty.

"Come away now child, it's time someone explained things to you," the woman said, pulling Anoe away from her foes. She took Anoe's bundle and handed it to her slave, a young eunuch with a very anxious face. "Take this back to Anok-su-namon's rooms and have it properly cleaned," the woman said.

"Now, I am Ahketnehkbet, and I am one of the oldest of the pharaoh's wives, though I am no longer very important. Now, you on the other hand, are in a very precarious situation, as you are both young and pretty, and you have caught the pharaoh's eye. The lady you spoke with was Nefertiabet, as the pharaoh calls her, who was a princess in Nubia before she wed Seti."

"She is not a Great Wife, nor has she the capacity to be one, but while you are here, she can make your life very difficult. She is quite jealous of younger women who come here, especially since she wants to be a greater wife, and not merely a minor one. Since those of his wives who are greater are out of her reach, she wastes herself removing the lower wives and concubines and squabbling with her servants. A petty, foolish woman all around."

The old woman, Ahketnehkbet, lead Anoe away to a small nook to talk. It was quite possibly the talk of her life. Before she had left her father's house, she had had several Important Talks with her parents before, but none on such a scale. Ahketnehkbet took the time to explain to Anoe who everyone in the harem was, who was important, who wasn't, and most importantly, which of the wives (or concubines) were outside of the harem, in their own sumptuous rooms.

Seti's current favourite was a young concubine named Kiya, who was currently pregnant, and, due to her youth, not likely to survive. Before Kiya, Nefertiabet had been his favourite, and before he had seen Anoe, she had expected to regain her position as harem favourite.

Anoe had argued that she didn't want to be a favourite, but Ahketnehkbet quickly shushed her before she could continue. Such words would get her into trouble faster than Nefertiabet could, and the punishments for unfaithful women in the harem were harsh.

Over the next few months, Anoe was taught her way around the harem by Ahketnehkbet. Ahketnehkbet approved of Anoe's clothes, and even leant her jewellery and clothes and wigs to wear. Anoe was sent to dancing lessons as well, and spent most of her time in not at dancing (and si) lessons at the temples, appearing very pious. She did get to spend some time at the temple of Ptah, which had a great library, and soon the other wives were mocking her for choosing such a boring temple, one that the pharaoh hardly visited, even if he was beloved of Ptah.

But her life wasn't completely horrible in the harem. The younger children of the pharaoh were kept there, including young Nefertiri, who was the true princess, and daughter of Tuya. Nefertiri was too young to be married (which was lucky, considering her father's perchance for young women), but she was old enough to remind Anoe of her little sister, and soon they were practicing dancing and sparring together. Occasionally they even snuck away together, Nefertiri escaping her teachers, and Anoe escaping the boredom of the harem. They never went that far out of the palace, and Nefertiri's guard Puta always followed, but it was nice to be able to escape somewhere outside the city.

Her life began to settle into a comfortable pattern until the third month of flooding, when Kiya's baby was born, and she died. Kiya was in a room not far from Anoe, since she was not a wife, and so when she began to give birth, on a dark, moonless night, all the women of the harem were there to see her die. They were also unable to escape the sight and smell as the half-formed baby slipped out of her, a bloody little mass with an unformed head with squished features.

It disgusted Anoe, and many of the other wives ran to their rooms to pretend such an awful thing had not happened, but Ahketnehkbet held her shoulders and made her watch. "This is what may happen if you are careless," she said.

"If you get pregnant by the pharaoh before he marries you, you may end up like this, with no physician to attend you, dying in a squalling mess on the harem floor." she hissed. "Let it also be a warning against taking a lover; even if the pharaoh does not catch you, the fates may, and they may curse you with a death worse than what the torturers could do."

Late, too late, but still before the sun had risen, the physician arrived. Hardly any time had passed at all since the nightmare had started, but it was not soon enough to do anything, only soon enough to give Kiya her last rites, and feed her poison to ease her death.

Afterwards Anoe was sick in her room, heaving until nothing but thin slips of bile came up.

The next morning the women acted as though nothing had happened, going about their daily tasks as usual, painting their faces and playing games with the palace cats or their children. Nefertiri came too (she had been with her mother, who was beginning to teach the girl about things of state, and was planning to move her out of the harem), and she was giggling as a child would. She hadn't seen Kiya the night before, and she had no idea of the events that had taken place.

Anoe was distracted and no fun, and eventually Nefertiri went off to play with the other children, declaring Anoe 'boring.' Anoe could care less about her opinion, and went to the temple of Ptah to lose herself among the scrolls. She had been reading about the foreign land of Atlantis before Kiya had died, and how it had sunk beneath the waves. She could go and lose herself in the thin black lines and elegant pictures that opened a gateway to another land.

But when she arrived, she couldn't find any peace. The tale ended horribly, with the city sinking beneath the waves, the people drowned or burned, and it reminded her so much of Kiya dying, coughing blood up all over herself, her body contorting horribly when she died. Anoe vowed then and there that she would never, NEVER, let herself die that way.

Instead of going back to the harem when the sun began its descent down the horizon, she instead went to the temple of Bes, to get some of the contraceptives that the women there sold. The pharaoh had yet to notice her, despite her appearances at many banquets and ceremonies, but she wanted to be prepared.

Her guards caught her on her way out (she had to leave them in the temple of Ptah to get away; it wouldn't do for her to be caught with contraceptives, especially since she had yet to grace the pharaoh's bed!), and she told them she had been praying for Kiya. Then she had to go to the temple of Osiris, where Kiya's body was being beautified, her organs cut out and her body covered in salt.

It was grotesque to see it done. They had washed all the blood away from her face and without the little monster distorting her body, it had gone back to the slim shape of a young girl. Despite Kiya's elevated place in the harem, she had only been a year or two older than Anoe, 16 or 17 at most.

Her lips tightened at the sight; how stupid a god the pharaoh had to be to impregnate a girl her age with a monster! A tear trickled down her cheek. She and Ahketnehkbet had been planning for this, for Kiya to die, and for Anoe to move into her place in the harem, taking the pharaoh's right hand and eventually marrying him to gain more status. Never before had she thought of Kiya as a person, a real person, who would die, and it made her feel as much a monster as the thing that had killed Kiya.

"It's awful isn't it?" A voice asked.

Anoe turned, her eyes bright with tears to see a man, a temple priest, not a eunuch, looking past her at the body. "I was supposed to be called when the labour started, but no one expected it to start so soon,"

Anoe had no idea what to say to him. "It was, it wasn't a, it was a monster," she said instead of the half-formed sentences she had been meaning to hurl at him. "She would have died even if she were attended by the best physicians,"

"The bull of Crete, the minotaur, the queen died soon after its birth, and she was a queen." she said.

Somehow that was important. Being a queen, having power, seemed more important than ever now. Whatever had caused the monster inside Kiya, a curse, bad luck, all of those things a queen would be protected from.

He shook his head. "Queens don't always survive either."

Their conversation seemed at an end there, so Anoe left the temple and went back to the harem. That night was full of awful dreams, of Kiya dying, of her mother, of herself, becoming pregnant and then being cut open by the priests of Osiris. She wasn't dead in her dreams, but no one noticed, and when they cut her open, a monster sprang out to eat her.

End Chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

Intro: Yes, I realize Anck-su-namon's name is wrong, but I like 'Anoe' as a nickname (it reminds me of Arsinoe, which is another Egyptian-ish name, although from a much later period). Please, review, even if it's just to tell me you hate it!

Chapter Two:

The days afterwards Anoe avoided Nefertiri and Ahketnehkbet. She went to the temple of Osiris several times, each time meaning to see the body of Kiya and say a prayer, but she could never finish it. She barely noticed the priest who'd spoken to her, one of the lower priests who said prayers, or painted the amulets she supposed. He often looked at her in askance, as though confused at her presence there, and sometimes spoke to her, but their conversations always ended on a depressing note about Kiya. Finally Ahketnehkbet sought her out.

"What are you doing girl?" she asked. "You are so caught up in Kiya's death that it may as well have been you that died!"

"Don't you want to catch the pharaoh's eye?" she asked. "Or do you want to languish in this harem forever, a weak, pathetic fool like those women who follow Nefertiabet around, hoping for scraps?"

"No," Anoe replied in a small voice. "I just," she trailed off. She felt like a small girl being scolded by her mother.

Ahketnehkbet sighed and put her arms around Anoe, holding onto her like her mother had, and rocking her back and forth.

"I see," she said, and sighed again.

"I shall tell you a story that few of the women here know anymore. Some aren't old enough to remember it, some have forgotten, since it was so long ago that I was a favorite."

"When I was a young girl, the daughter of a nobleman, I had a twin sister, named Sit-khamose. She was the beautiful one, while I was the dancer. My father sought the pharaoh's favor with us, and so married Sit-khamose to him, while I was sent along with her as her handmaiden. This was when the pharaoh was only a young man, before his father ascended to his tomb, when he was beginning to take on more roles.

"He immediately fell in love with my sister, ignoring the Great Wife Tuya in favour of her, and she soon fell pregnant. At first it seemed like it would be a good pregnancy; she was healthy and young, and all throughout her pregnancy she simply seemed to glow, growing brighter and brighter as the child within her grew.

"I am still not sure what caused my sister to die, but a month before she was due, she grew ill, deathly ill. At the time, poison was talked of, but only in hushed tones, because the great Tuya was displeased that anyone would question the guards or the women of the harem, of which there were few at the time.

"She said it was a great insult to the pharaoh that he could not protect his women, and an insult to the sisterhood that was the harem, and so silenced any rumours. She even took the time to nurse my sister, while she grew sicker and sicker, eventually sending the physicians away.

"Both my sister and the baby died then, and from then Tuya has been the Great Wife. Any of Seti's favourites have only lasted a little while; whether that is because he fears to lose his playthings to her jealousy, or because he is fickle I do not know.

"The point however, dear Anoe, is simple; none of the women, save for Tuya is safe here. If any of us gains too much power, she may kill her, by poison or by strangling them, or by setting a dangerous snake into the harem. It has been done before, though such rumours are always supressed.

"However, without enough power, each of us is vulnerable to each other as well. Even if the pharaoh does not notice you, does not call you to his bed, you are still competition, and if one of the women thinks his gaze may stray, or that you are prettier, or simply grow tired of worrying about the threat you represent, they may kill you.

"It is a delicate balance, and a dangerous game, but since you are a concubine of the pharaoh, you must play it whether you wish it or not. Appearing not to care will lead the women to think you have a lover, and that will encourage them to tell Seti-"

Anoe interrupted then. "But I don't have a-"

"I know child," Ahketnehkbet continued, her tone patient. "But the mere suggestion of it has lead to the deaths of many women, and any children suspected to be of any but the pharaoh's seed."

"That is why I have encouraged your friendship with Nefertiri, the girl has no power of her own, and little wit, if her behavior is any indication, but no one will strike at you while you are with her.

"It may be terrible, but now is the time to strike. Kiya is dead, but Nefertiabet lies in wait like a cobra, ready to strike. Now is the time to draw the pharaoh's attention, to dance to his every need, to make him love you. He is at his weakest now, having lost Kiya, and will readily accept a pretty young thing into his bed and his heart now.

The words displeased Anoe, since she had no desire to become pregnant, but it didn't look like she had another choice.

"More importantly," Ahketnehkbet said, releasing Anoe and looking at her, "You need to hide your activities better; the contraceptive you got from the Bes temple I have disposed of. When Seti begins bedding you, you will come to me for anything you need; you must not be seen getting such things yourself."

Ahketnehkbet's words annoyed Anoe, mostly because they brought back her old annoyance at being a concubine back. She had no desire to be where she was now, and being expected to fall into the role and manipulate people angered her. She felt like an angry horse being brought to bridle before her time.

She walked down the hallways to the training rooms for weapons and dancing. Today she felt like hitting something; it was the best way to take out her temper on things, she had found, far better than leaving it inside, bottled up and seething like the Nile at flooding time.

Quickly, she positioned her body into the standard pose for the dance-fight that began with the sies. She closed her eyes and calmed her breathing, putting an imaginary beat in her head to follow while she began the steps.

She flew through several dances that way, her steps growing calm and measured as she worked her frustration out.

Suddenly a shrill voice interrupted her quiet meditations

"Anhk-sun-yamen!" Nefertiri, exclaimed shrilly, mis-prouncing her name as always, running towards her.

"Finally you've gotten out of your bad humors, and have begun to practice again!" she said. "Nefertiabet has been practicing with me while you were gone, and we have learned several new dances. No doubt I can beat you easily now Anoe," she said, bouncing on the spot. Anoe's heart sank while she saw Nefertiabet smiling maliciously behind her. Nefertiri had no idea what she had done, or how silly she was being. She was only 10 or 11, it was true, but she was becoming a woman, and such, ignorance of the harem politics astonished Anoe; she had thought the younger girl smarter than that.

"Perhaps Anoe and I should pair off first princess," Nefertiabet suggested, lifting her si suggestively.

Anoe smiled back politely while Nefertiri smiled and clapped her hands at the idea. Anoe had begun her practice hours ago, and sweat was dripping down her back, while Nefertiabet and Nefertiri were fresh, just having finished a few simple passes.

"Of course!" Nefertiri exclaimed. "Who better to fight than my two teachers!"

There was no way Anoe could think of to refuse without insulting Nefertiri, but she tried.

"Perhaps another day, your highness" she said. "I was about to make my way to the temple of Ra to pray."

Nefertiri's eyes grew wet with tears and her lower lip wobbled. "But I have been in class all day, while you have been lolling around in the harem," she protested. "And you haven't been fun for months.

"Perhaps she is tired," Nefertiabet suggested, placing her hands on the younger girl's shoulders possessively.

"Not at all," Anoe replied fiercely. "It is merely that I would like a short boute,"

"Oh it will be short," Nefertiabet said, the insult clear to all but Nefertiri, who was back to looking happy.

"We shall do it properly, like father does in court," she said, waving her hands to clear the floor.

Anoe was struck with a sudden dislike of the girl. She was as stupid as a cow; before she had seen it as a child's charming innocence, but Nefertiri's actions had consequences for other people, if not for herself.

She faced Nefertiabet, sies in hand, taking up the ceremonial position. The rest of the women of the harem stood watching, their weapons to the side, and the guards by the side doors. Nefertiri stood on the back of a slave and clapped her hands, signalling the start.

Immediately Nefertiabet slashed at Anoe's side, but she moved, twisted to the side out of her reach. She knew that Nefertiabet was fresh, and so she had no chance of wearing her out, she'd have to end it fast, before she got tired, or the sweat from her earlier practiced dripped into her eyes or the floor for her to slip on.

She and Nefertiabet circled each other. Nefertiabet generally didn't train with sies, but with spears, and so she wasn't used to a weapon that required her to get within reach of her opponent. Anoe could use that, draw her in and then take her down.

She faked an upper strike to Nefertiabet's face and lifted her left foot up, faking a move to the left. Then, she switched feet midair and kicked at Nefertiabet with her right foot, catching her on the shoulder as Nefertiabet jerked to avoid her fake-shots.

That made Nefertiabet back off slightly, moving to favor her kicked shoulder, and drawing the first one forward. It made her a smaller target, so Anoe circled her, trying to catch her off guard and get a solid shot at her.

Nefertiabet moved in on her right with a series of stabs and slashes and Anoe was forced to back up, blocking one after the other. The fight was over at first blood, or when one of them yielded. Nefertiabet was much better than she expected; clearly the woman had been practicing in her spare time.

She switched sides, going to her left side, and Anoe mentally swore at herself. While she trained with both hands as well, she was naturally right-handed and had only recently come back to the training areas. She made a mental note that she needed to practice more on her left side.

Nefertiabet smirked at her, noting Anoe's unhappy face and then stepped forward, tilting her body to the side entirely, and using the si like a spear. Anoe knew what was coming next. Nefertiabet would attack with one side until Anoe was tired, and then switch sides and go for the kill when she was tired and distracted.

She wasn't about to let that happen though. Nefertiabet could sleep with the pharaoh all she wanted, but SHE wasn't going to win this match! Anoe mirrored her, switching back to her right hand and giving Nefertiabet the same small target she presented.

She smirked at the woman, a clear challenge and then struck with her left hand, a feint low to her stomach. Nefertiabet responded with a back-handed slash to Anoe's face; clearly her motive wasn't simply to beat Anoe, but to cause damage.

Anoe moved out of the way, and gave a low kick to Nefertiabet's legs, meaning to trip her up and Nefertiabet's leg snaked around her own, trapping her around her knees and shoving her to the ground. Anoe gave out a short cry as she fell down and swiftly brought her leg up, catching Nefertiabet in the back of her thigh and pushing her down so she fell down in a heap.

Nefertiabet dropped her si when she fell, unwilling to impale herself on it, and Anoe slid to the side to avoid being trapped by her bulk and quickly cut her with her si as she passed, a small cut on her back. She continued her roll to get away from Nefertiabet and avoid a wrestling match (something she rarely practiced), and stopped near the edge of women and sprang to her feet.

Nefertiabet was back on her feet as well and she threw her sies away and grabbed a spear from one of the nearby guards, clearly wanting to end the fight on her terms.

"Hey!" Nefertiri cried. "That's not part of the game,"

Anoe and Nefertiabet ignored her. Nefertiabet would clearly kill Anoe if she could, her temper getting the better of her. Anoe dodged as Nefertiabet struck out at her, occasionally catching the spear with her sies. There was a way to disarm an opponent with a spear if you had a si, but she had never learned what it was, only having read about it in the scrolls at the library. She thought she had to trap it between the prongs of both tridents and then twist sideways, but she wasn't sure if it would work.  
Distracted by her thoughts, Anoe didn't notice that Nefertiabet had backed her up against a wall. She twisted and turned, trying to get out of the corner and back into an open space, but she couldn't. The prong on her si caught Nefertiabet's spear haft and she brought it down, pushing her spear down.

What happened next was a disgrace to the art of warfare. The fight turned into a struggling match Anoe's si on Nefertiabet's spear haft, pulling from one end, with Nefertiabet unwilling to relinquish control on her end. They tugged back and forth, kicking occasionally until they fell over in an undignified heap.

Nefertiabet was the first on her feet, having relinquished her spear. Nefertiri looked as though she might cry, her game having been ruined by their antics.

"Hardly sporting Anok-su-namon," she panted, blaming her.

Anoe glared at her, her good manners gone. "Yes, hardly sporting to use a spear against a si either," she said.

"Especially after you've already lost." she pointed to the cut on Nefertiabet's side, where a sluggish line of blood was trailing down her tunic.

"This isn't how a fight is supposed to go!" Nefertiri cried, stepping between them. "It's supposed to be beautiful and strong, not, not, falling over and turning into a wrestling match like what the_ men _do," she said, the word men laced with scorn.

"Of course your majesty," Nefertiabet said, immediately falling her to knees to bow to the princess. Nefertiri looked expectantly at Anoe as well, but her patience was worn too thin, especially with the spoiled little princess.

"If Nefertiabet had noticed her loss, the match would have been much more pleasing to you," she said, indicating Nefertiabet's cut side. Nefertiri looked confused then.

"But when did you cut her?" she asked, confused.

"After tripping me, majesty, a clever trick," Nefertiabet said, her eyes dark pits gnawing into Anoe. She'd have to watch her back from now on.

"Then I decree Nefertiabet the victor," Nefertiri declared. "No one is supposed to be tripped, or resort to the silly wrestling tricks here,"

She offered her hand to Nefertiabet, and the woman accepted. Nefertiri gave Anoe an imperious look, stuck her nose in the air and marched away, a clear insult.

Anoe was seething with anger now. If Nefertiabet had not tripped her in the first place the entire travesty wouldn't have started. Stupid little princess.

She stalked off out of the room, ignoring the proper protocol and marched to her rooms, tears in her eyes. She knew she'd be punished for it later, though she didn't know what. She managed to keep a strong face on until she got to her room, but once there she collapsed onto her pallet.

What if Nefertiri convinced her father to get rid of her? Could Nefertiri have her whipped? She knew that right then Nefertiabet would be sitting with the princess, enjoying a basket of rich figs and wine, and no doubt pouring poison into the girl's ears about Anoe.

Ahketnehkbet would be ashamed of her if she knew. No doubt she'd appear in Anoe's room to slap her silly and yell at her for her foolishness. Nefertiri had been a useful friend to have, and now that she hated Anoe, or was showing her scorn at least, who knew how much worse it would get?

She felt like crying, but she knew there wouldn't be a point in it; everyone would hear, and would gleefully report it to Nefertiabet. She ground her teeth together. If she was in trouble, she wasn't staying her to face it. Better to go somewhere else and calm down, even if it got her into more trouble later. Considering her temper and what she had just done, who knew what she might do if she actually lost her temper with Nefertiri?

Her mind made up, Anoe washed her face and body and re-applied the paint to cover her tear-stained cheeks. She would go to the temple of Ptah and lose herself in the scrolls there. Maybe she could research how to poison Nefertiabet. She could slip it into her wine, or put it onto the tips of her sies the next time they fought, something slow that would cause her to sicken for many days before she died, so no one would suspect Anoe-

She cut herself off. Such things were unthinkable. Her every move was watched by guards; even now eunuchs followed her and would no doubt report her bad behavior to the overseer of the harem, who would report her to the pharaoh or have her disciplined herself. And even if she somehow managed it, the palace was always looking out for poisoners, and Nefertiabet was too close to the pharaoh for any to think her poisoning was a by-blow of someone trying to assassinate the pharaoh.

If Anoe didn't care for her own life, she could manage it, but wanted to live. She had seen how Kiya died, and she wanted nothing of it. The priests talked about an afterlife, and they built great temples for the pharaohs and the rich, but she would no doubt be buried and rot in the ground, unimportant, her name lost to the ages. Such a thing terrified her.

That was why needed the pharaoh's support and love. Though he was an old man, if he loved her, he would inscribe her name on his tomb, and her name would live on alongside his. And while he was alive, she would be protected, as much as she could be, from the demons and curses, and perhaps some of the women of the harem as well.

Anoe spent many hours at the library, reading on the reign of Seti I and his father, hoping to glean something of the man from his past actions. What she read was not encouraging. He was praised throughout the scrolls as a wonderful, powerful pharaoh, the living embodiment of Ra on Earth. It was everything the songs told her, but nothing useful. She had seen him herself, fat and drunk at banquets, grease dripping from his chin, concubines and wives at his side. A fat, flatulent god perhaps, but certainly nothing like the sun god Ra.

Anoe closed the scrolls in annoyance and folded them away carefully. There was nothing she could learn hear. Her best option would be to return to the harem and discuss the pharaoh with Ahketnehkbet. She had been in the harem longer than any woman, and so would know what Anoe should do.

Over the past few months, Anoe had avoided thinking about her relationship (or lack thereof) with the pharaoh. He was a god, who had chosen her for his bedchambers, and then forgotten about her as quickly as a child a toy. She hadn't wanted to marry an old, weak god, nearing his end (she hadn't necessarily wanted to marry anyone; she hadn't thought about it much before), or be anyone's concubine. But the fact of the matter was, she was a concubine, and if she wanted anything out of her life, it would have to come from pleasing the pharaoh, not herself.

Her mind made up, Anoe strode back to the harem her back set straight and her chin held high. No doubt there would be some punishment, but she would get past it. Then, she would begin her campaign for Seti, just as Ahketnehkbet had advised her. She felt like a general marching off to war, and the idea made her smile.

At the harem, she was met with the guards of the harem, who had her whipped, as per the demands of Tuya, Nefertiri's mother. Anoe refused to let a cry pass her lips, standing silently and proudly. She even ignored the eunuch who came to rub lotion into her cuts afterwards, remaining as still and poised as the sphinx. All throughout it, she felt a kind of smugness, her mind whirring away with plans for Seti.

It would begin with the careful cultivation of the friendships of several women in the harem, old ones like Ahketnehkbet who were past their prime, or young ones who Nefertiabet had insulted, or who competed with her. She would gain alliances, make bribes and get everything she needed. She would have to marry the pharaoh to gain any real power of course, and that meant making her peace with Nefertiri, if only on the surface. Despite the girl's youth, Anoe was not inclined to forgive her for her silly actions on that day, or her callous ignorance of the harem matters and Kiya's death.

End Chapter


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

Warning! Creepy rape-y sex between Anoe and Seti. I own nothing.

Anoe spent the next week months carefully cultivating friendships with women in the harem. Some were not concubines, but servants or slaves, which had seemed very odd to her at first, but Ahketnehkbet had explained it to her:

"Everyone forgets what they say around slaves," she had said, when Anoe seemed confused. "They think of them as furniture, and so they gain knowledge that we do not. Haven't you ever forgotten that a slave was present while you did or said silly things?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. Anoe blushed; that must have been how Ahketnehkbet had found out about the contraceptives; her own ignorance and stupidity could have cost her her life.

From there on, she threw herself into the harem life. She spent time not only at the si and weapons training areas, but in the dance arenas, throwing herself into abandon the dances that before she had dismissed as silly. She grew to like the hard changes in her body, even as she bloomed into a real woman.

She made several friends, some concubines, some lesser wives, and some slaves or eunuchs. There was Huy, the old pot-belled eunuch who worked painting the harem women's faces, who first taught Anoe how to dress herself as an attractive woman. He explained how beauty was not simply the structure of the bones and the person underneath, but the lines of the kohl, the colors of the paint, the sparkles that were used to draw out that special spark that resided inside everyone, like the Ka or Ba, and just as intangible.

Ahhotep always laughed at him when he went to far, giggling at his reverent words and saying that he was approaching blasphemy. His responses always included the beautification of the dead, preparing them for their afterlife; if being beautiful was not so important, he argued, then why did the priests beautify the corpses and prepare them for their tombs? Why did the nobles dress in gold and paint over their imperfections to seem more like the gods?

Ahhotep was the woman in charge of the lesser wardrobe, which supplied those poorer concubines and wives with the special sheaths and clothes that they wore on feast days or when serving the pharaoh, until they earned better gifts from the pharaoh himself. She was a kind woman, with dark skin like Nefertiabet, but with kind dark eyes, like the fertile soil by the banks of the Nile.

There was Badarian, a young slave who swept the rooms clean. He reminded Anoe of the little boys who had lived next door to her. He was young and silly, and often professed his wish to become a solider. In some ways he seemed more free than Anoe herself, as he was allowed almost anywhere in the palace, his broom in tow to keep things clean for the nobles.

Sepacippus was another concubine, one whose face was greatly aged, but still showed beauty. She was even older than Ahketnehkbet, and had known her sister when they had first come to the harem. Sepacippus stayed on because she was a friend to Tuya, the pharaoh's Great Wife, and often advised her, though the pharaoh had little use for her himself.

There were a few others, her dance partner, Henenu, a girl with a great blob of a face who was often brought to dance for the pharaoh; she knew even more dances than Anoe. She was utterly useless with weapons though, and shrieked and dropped them at the first opportunity during sparring. But it was nice to have a friend to giggle with, someone to play pretend that they were just normal young girls.

Nefertiabet remained aloof and cold towards her, her friendship with Nefertiri growing more and more, though the pharaoh called for her less and less. During the winter months, he took his court away from the palace, going on a dangerous trip down the Nile and leaving behind the majority of his harem members. He took neither Anoe nor Nefertiabet, and they were left with the rest of the harem to sway like reeds in a strong wind, the point of their existence away visiting the rest of the realm.

Sepacippus and Ahketnehkbet went as well; Ahketnehkbet to act as a companion to Sepacippus, and Seppacippus to play advisor to Tuya.

In the months when they were gone Anoe spent as much time as she could exploring the palace and visiting the temples. She went to the temple of Osiris as often as she did Ptah. Not because she liked the temple, with its stench of death, and ever-present mourners, and odd-masked priests, but to remind herself of what could happen if she failed.

There, spent time with the man who had spoken to her when Kiya died. His name was Imhotep, and he was the son of a noble, one who was reported to have great powers as a seer, and so he had been brought from the scribe schools to the temple of Osiris to learn the great mysteries. He was meant to grow into an advisory role to the pharaoh, but often times he confided in her how unsure he was. His gifts seemed more like nightmares often, and were blurred and vague.

The ones that haunted him the most were of the strangely dressed people who killed him. He dreamed of it often. Most of it remained a mystery, but it seemed as though they would break into a great tomb or a temple, Imhotep could not tell which, dressed in strange pale clothes with their feet covered to the knees in mud, and then throw lightning at him.

The dream seemed more a silly dream than a real vision, and Anoe laughed and told him so when it haunted him. No doubt he was spending too much time deciphering the great books, and praying, until his mind simply conjured up a nightmare to quiet him.

The idea made Imhotep laugh, because he said he would be much more pleased if the visions were to cease, but when Anoe pointed out that then he would still be in scribe school with all the other boys, he blushed and would not look her in the eye.

They didn't just talk about the temple of Osiris and his visions though. She told him about her practice with sies, and the great boredom that haunted the harem. She told him about Kiya before she had died to quiet his mind, seeking out women who had been Kiya's friends for more stories. The stories she learned painted Kiya as a girl with a spirit like a butterfly, which was no doubt what had drawn the ever-aging pharaoh's eye to her.

There were also the scrolls they each read in the temple of Ptah. Though his readings were more theological than hers, there was enough of an overlap to allow them to argue and debate the finer points of several scrolls, and Anoe found herself seeking out scrolls he mentioned so as to better form her debates. Several times in the temple of Ptah, she caught him pulling down the fantastical scrolls she read, the ones of other lands and places. He sheepishly confessed to her that the scrolls made him think of places outside of Egypt, of how the goddesses and gods might be in those lands, and often they discussed how the ancestors of the barbarians felt, buried or burned in some cases, rather than being properly mummified.

Imhotep wondered if being burned freed them from their earthly struggles, or whether it was some great punishment, to wipe away their soul and their name from the world. Such a thing seemed horrible, and yet none of their priests used such punishment for the damned Egyptians. Surely no people could be so ignorant as to call such a horrible curse down upon themselves by destroying a person's name.

One rather fine day, they wondered if the corpses of those buried were awoken with the wrong spirit in them. The young man would see the fine corpse of a newly dead person and inhabit it instead of his own, only to quarrel with its original inhabitant, or perhaps the inhabitants wife!

The pharaoh returned with much fanfair, and Sepacippus and Ahketnehkbet came with great news! They immediately took her to Huy, who painted her up as finely as he could, and Anoe was brought before the pharaoh.

She was nervous throughout the entire affair, unable to eat anything, and her throat kept getting drier and drier until finally Ahketnehkbet said she could have no more beer. The paint on her body felt odd, and the thin, sheer sheath she wore was more revealing than any other she had worn before. She was allowed to see herself in a great bronze mirror that belonged to Sepacippus, and a pale young Egyptian girl stared back at her, her eyes huge and dark, and her hair a fine river of black strung with gold beads down to her shoulders. She looked more like a painting than a real person, though she could see parts of her mother in the mirror she thought, the curve of her nose, the slight upturn of her mouth when she smiled.

Before she was taken before the pharaoh, Ahketnehkbet and Sepacippus sat down with her, her expression serious and slightly nervous. Anoe had never before seen her friend nervous about anything; she was so old and she had been in the harem so long, that she seemed as unchangeable as the stars in the sky, and as likely to be ruffled by human affairs as them.

"Now," she said. "I do not know how much your mother told you of what happens in bed between a man and a woman, if she told you the different ways, or simply stuck to a simple explanation, or whether she avoided the topic all together."

"However, tonight you go before the pharaoh, not simply as another dancer, but likely as a bed mate, and it will not go well if you resist or seem disgusted."

Then she proceeded to tell Anoe about sex. It was half frightening, and half disgusting, and it made Anoe re-think her entire plan to seduce the pharaoh. She had seen beasts rutting in the fields, but the things Ahketnehkbet spoke of, of spanking and dripping wax onto people, or putting certain parts into each other's mouths!

The entire thing shocked her, and she wished she had time to absorb the information, go and research it in the library of Ptah, or speak to some of the other women about it. Surely things weren't so, so...

Her mind simply couldn't figure any of it out.

Ahketnehkbet told her that her first time would no doubt be awful and painful, and had cautioned her against displaying about disgust or pain.

"Instead," she said, "you must act as though it is the best night of your life; wax poetic about his strokes, about the fleeting taste of orgasm, and if you cry, tell him they are tears of joy,"

"Do not, do not allow him to see that he has hurt you, as he no doubt will"

"But shouldn't he make an effort to make it good for both of us? Surely women don't always feel pain?" Anoe asked in confusion.

Ahketnehkbet's lips tightened. "If he were a better man he would, but he is used to having everything brought to him on a golden platter, and so he will only think of his own pleasure, not yours. If you seem upset, it will upset him, because he has a great, ego, and has been taught that he is simply the best at what he does, the Great Bull of Egypt, and he will not call for you again if you do."

Anoe's face must have betrayed her thoughts at that, of making it unpleasant for Seti and getting away from him, for Ahketnehkbet grasped her arm tightly. "You must not let the idea of romance go to your head; your job is to make him happy here, and later, he may reward you, and you may seek pleasure in other ways," she glanced at Sepacippus, a half-hidden look under her gaze. Something passed between them, and it reminded Anoe of when the sun grew so hot as to distort the air, a shimmering heat between them that formed a mirage and quickly vanished.

She shook her head. Perhaps the beer had gone to her head.

Huy lead the eunuchs who took her to the pharaoh's chambers.

He lazed like a spoiled hippopotamus son the banks of the Nile. His belly swollen and spilling over his silken shirt, the edges of his clothes soaked in sweat. A cup of wine sat in his hand, several amphora of wine by his side, as well as figs and sweat meats and almond cakes.

He laughed uproarishly when he saw her, the wine sloshing over the cups sides and slipping down onto the couch. His gaze flickered up and down her body in the sheath, lingering on the swell of her breasts under the sheer tunic and the dark haired place between her legs.

Anoe blushed and ducked her head in shame and fear. She was glad that Ahketnehkbet had taken her aside and told her not to expect romance. Musicians played music in the background, and slaves were all around. She was suddenly more aware of how often she ignored slaves, and felt a sudden shame that they were here to witness this.

Seti's face had shown a leer before, but now he was dissatisfied.

"Well dance now, girl!" she flapped his hand at her. "The night's not getting any youngers" he flopped back into the pillows, his job done as far as he was concerned.

Thankful for the instruction and the distraction, Anoe threw herself into a slow delicate dance, one meant for the praising of the rising sun disk. The sheath slipped around her limbs, too big in some areas and tighter in others, the shear cloth fluttering and showing her skin. The musicians sped up the music as her steps did, meant to glorify and mirror the suns rays spilling across the horizon.

After it was done, she was covered in a slight sheen of sweat and exhilarated as always. But the exhilaration quickly turned to disgust as she turned back to the disgusting man on the couch. He was old enough to be her father, and his fingers were sticky from the sweets.

He gestured at her to come closer and she knelt at his feet by the couch, seeking to avoid touching him. One of his sweaty large hands came down to brush her face.

"Ah the beautiful Anck-sun-yamen," he said, mispronouncing her name. It was not a romance, she reminded herself. Not for her were the simple walks by the ocean, the sweet gifts and the simple kisses and love that she had seen between her parents.

She knew better than to delay any longer. The sooner she got it over with, the better. She climbed onto the couch and sat beside him, turning to face him and said something pleasing and in praise of him.

He plied her with wine, and several times asked her to dance again, the steps growing faint in her mind, as she grew drunk and the she quickly fumbled the steps, but he clearly didn't care. He kissed her several times, and the drunker she got the less disgusting it seemed, so she drank more, making him laugh.

His tongue reminded her of a slug, crawling along a leaf and leaving a trail of slime. The sweetmeats he crammed into his mouth made him taste thick and rich, like dripping spicing honey down her throat.

It ended when he climbed on top of her and pressed inside, her legs sprawled open. She couldn't seem to care how silly she looked, and her limbs seemed loose and broken, like wet noodles. It felt unpleasant, like scraping a blister on her foot and going on a walk. She gasped as Ahketnehkbet had told her and clasped him to her so he couldn't see her face and the tears in her eyes.

It finished in an increased feeling of wetness and afterwards he rolled over and feel asleep, She could feel it starting to drip out of her, and all night she lay awake next to the snoring pharaoh, his mouth open and drooling and hated him.

As his seed dripped out of her onto the mattress she counted all the ways she could kill him. She could put a pillow over his face and press down until his breath stopped. She could stuff a fig into his mouth and hope he choked. She could lay her own hands about his neck and squeeze until his trachea broke and he died like a fish out of water. She could take the simple dull knife by the sweetmeats and push it into his eyes until she hit his brain and could gauge it out in pieces. It would save the priests some work on his corpse.

She did none of those things. She simply lay there, not sleeping beside him, disgusted with herself until the morning rays of the sun spread across the sky, illuminating the room. She wished then that she could go back to the night; it was better to be beside Seti while he slept than when he awoke.

The slaves that took care of Seti came into his room at dawn and began their morning tasks, clearing away the broken crockery and the wine and sweetmeats, replacing them with new ones. Anoe pretended to slumber and hated them all.

When Seti woke up, he was full of nothing but praise for her. he spoke of how beautiful she was and kissed her several times, while she smiled shyly and wanted to throw up. Her head ached from the wine, and his breath was awful. She played the polite concubine and praised him for his efforts, telling him it had been the greatest night of her life, speaking with religious reverence for his form.

His advisors arrived after he dressed and he left her reluctantly to begin his work. The advisors all ignored her, lying in bed clothed in nothing but a sheet, her hair a mess after the night and her make-up smudged like a dockside whores. Tuya looked down at her, looking like a goddess and accepted Seti's morning kisses with dignity, her sharp eyes on Anoe, taking in the tear tracks and the the disarrayed bed.

Afterwards Huy and the other slaves of the harem came to take her away. Anoe returned to the harem, a surreal feeling about her as she bathed away the slime from the night before.

The justification came later that day, when Seti sent her several pretty broaches. Ahketnehkbet praised her and told her how often Seti forgot the girls he took to bed. To Anoe they could only represent the loss of her innocence.

She spent several days disgusted by them, toying with them, looking at how the light reflected against them, until she finally rose from her bed and took them to the temple of Osiris. She left them before the statue, the thought of Kiya and her bloody death not far from her mind.


End file.
